Family First

Posted on January 31, 2020 by mauistamper

I’ve neglected the Maui Stamper all month, and sorry, but I’m not sorry. Our family celebrated a wedding last weekend and the past few weeks have been abundant with love and joy. The last of the family is headed back to the mainland today, and I am trying my best to re-enter my version of the real world.

Let’s go back to the beginning – at least the Maui Stamper beginning! Here’s the Save-the-Date I collaboratively created for my daughter Sara and her fiancé Ben:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Ben and Sara Save the Date

Stamps: Tropical Chic, Botanical Blooms (retired)
Color Palette: Whisper White, Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist (retired In Color), Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Tropical Dies, Botanical Blooms dies (retired), die cutting machine, Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue (the wonder adhesive), Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

I’m not going to tell you how many of these I made, but I will tell you that my die cutting machine and my dies may never be the same and my fingers were WORN OUT. But it was worth it – I loved how they turned out, and so did Sara and Ben.

Next project was an invitation:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Ben and Sara Invitation

Stamps: Climbing Orchid (retired), Beauty Abounds, Wonderful Romance (retired)
Color Palette: Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Orchid Builder framelits (retired), Die cutting machine, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

In both cases I printed the text onto Whisper White card stock, formatting with Microsoft Publisher. There was an additional card included with the invitation with a few more details, and it was cut to to the size of the interior panel. The Save-the-Date measures 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and the Invitation is 5″ x 7″. We ordered yellow envelopes that coordinated well, since Stampin’ Up! doesn’t sell that size.

I sent Sara and Ben a sample of EVERY color of Stampin’ Up! card stock, as well as some samples of embellishments and embossing folders. Most of our design work was done via text and photo, with a couple of FaceTime sessions as we narrowed things down. It was such an enjoyable process, and an honor for me to make the invitations.

Fast forward to last weekend:

The ceremony was at Olowalu Plantation House, and despite some iffy weather earlier in January, the day was spectacularly gorgeous. Everything went smoothly, and the whales provided a nice touch as they spouted, breached, and showed their tales all afternoon. The flowers were amazing, done by Dellables and of exceptional quality. Look at the bride’s bouquet three days AFTER the ceremony:

There are advantages to being Mother of the Bride at a destination wedding – Mr. Maui Stamper and I brought home a lot of beautiful flowers!

Speaking of The Mister, he’s a craftsman in his own right. He created an extraordinary marker for the event: a redwood sign with the home town and distance of every wedding guest on arrows:

That’s the beautiful Maid of Honor, our oldest daughter Carol, with her wonderful partner, Shanti. There are more home towns and distances on the other side of the sign, and as an engineer, Mr. Maui Stamper made sure that each arrow pointed correctly towards its destination (within 22°). He also made quite precise measurements, and used the appropriate unit of measurement for the country. This sign was a big attraction!

A late addition to the décor was a set of table numbers and escort cards to help the guests find their seats. There wasn’t a set seating chart, but guests were grouped at their tables so that family and friends would be able to sit together.

I can’t say enough about White Orchid Weddings and my dear friend, Jackie Ishikawa. I’ve known her since our kids were in grade school together, and when it came time to find a wedding coordinator there was no question about who to ask. Jackie did a fabulous job of guiding Sara and Ben through the process, and made sure that on the day of the celebration we were all guests at the party!

The bride and groom kicked off the festivities and the celebration was one to remember. My family is spread across the globe, and having an occasion like this to gather made my heart sing.

Colour INKspiration 54

Posted on April 23, 2019 by mauistamper

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Colour Inkspiration Guest Designer

It’s such an honour to be chosen to join the Colour Inkspiration Challenge tour. I enjoy these challenges immensely, and love to see what the many talented and creative crafters imagine for each colour challenge. This round features one of my absolute favorite combinations!

I LOVE crafting in black and white! There’s something about it that really satisfies me, and when I learned that was the combination for this challenge I was delighted! I created a lot of different cards for this challenge, and I’ll be sure to share some of them over the fortnight. I’ve chosen just one for today:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! ColourINKspiration Challenge #54 Climbing Orchid

Stamps: Climbing Orchid (retiring with the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog)
Colour Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, and Lemon Lime Twist (a 2017-2019 In Colour, retiring with the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog)
Accessories: Big Shot, Orchid Builder Framelits, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Botanical Butterfly DSP (2019 Sale-a-bration), Stampin’ Write markers, Vellum Card Stock, Stazon Jet Black Ink, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue Pen
The “spritz” is made with a very old tool that Stampin’ Up! sold – and retired – eons ago. I love mine, and I kept it. You can get a similar effect by tapping a brush loaded with colour over your project.

A few construction tips:

Because I used the Rectangle Stitched Framelits as a mat, I had to commit to that shape for my focal point. I assembled my orchids and arranged them on the card stock until I was satisfied before adhering them to the base.
The orchid layers are assembled with Stampin’ Dimensionals, and are also adhered to the base with them as well.
In my humble opinion, the leaves in the stamp set are Just Wrong. (I have orchids growing in my garden – nuff said.) I ended up free-hand drawing the stem and leaves with the Lemon Lime Twist Stampin’ Write Marker. By outlining first and filling in the shape with careful linear strokes I was able to create an interesting high/low colour texture.
The sentiment is inked in Stazon to avoid smearing on the vellum.
The vellum layer is adhered to the card front with a very thin line from the Fine Tip Glue Pen on either end. It dried and left no trace.
Start with your black and white elements. The pop will reveal itself.

Are you ready to play? Just dive right in! Seriously, you just can’t go wrong with this combination! When you’re ready, share your project HERE and be sure to tag it #CI54.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Colour Inkspiration Tour NEXT

If you’d like a little more inspiration before you start, continue on the tour. You’re headed to Kelly Kent, and she’s created a very charming card. I think you’ll love it!

Orchids in the jar

Posted on September 22, 2017 by mauistamper

The Climbing Orchid is the latest flower I’ve tried in Jars of Love:

Stamps: Climbing Orchid, Jar of Love
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pool Party, So Saffron, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Big Shot, Orchid Builder Framelits, Everyday Jars Framelits, Softly Falling TIEF, Linen Thread, Vellum Card Stock

Don’t miss out – you can save on the Climbing Orchid bundle. Stampin’ Up! typically selects new stamps and framelit/thinlit/punches and bundles them during the first release year, but subsequent years the products are offered individually and the opportunity to save is sad, sweet history. This one is too good to let go by!

I used this same layout HERE, and I’m sure there are many other images that would work with this jar.

If you’re interested in the DIY Calendar kits, check out the details HERE. I’ll be shipping next week.

Hello Climbing Orchids

Posted on August 5, 2017 by mauistamper

Lately I’ve found myself needing cards with more generic greetings: hello, thinking of you, that sort of thing. This big HELLO stamp from the Hello Friend set is a design element on its own, but I had a stack of orchids waiting to be used, and the combination was very satisfying:

Stamps: Climbing Orchid, Touches of Texture, Hello Friend
Color Palette: Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron
Accessories: Big Shot, Orchid Builder Framelits, Swirly Scribbles Framelits, Gold thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Tombo, Wink of Stella, Aquapainter

I used the Aquapainter to add a little So Saffron ink to the orchid image, and then used it without any ink to blur and drag color to the stamped areas. Once that was dry, I added a little Wink for sparkle.

The Gold Thread technique that seems to work best for me is to put a Stampin’ Dimensional or Glue Dot on the card front where an image or layer will be applied, and then wind the thread through that adhesive until the arrangement is pleasing. An extra Dimensional or Glue Dot adjacent to the “holder” helps keep everything just where it belongs.